Fruit

The Best Lemon Shortbread Tart EVER

by:
October 15, 2018
5
1 Ratings
The Best Lemon Shortbread Tart EVER
Photo by Molly
  • Prep time 45 minutes
  • Cook time 1 hour
  • Serves 8-12
Author Notes

I have searched high and low for YEARS for the best Lemon Tart Recipe. It all started with the Lemon Tarts at Starbucks. I was hooked, and even when they were a part of the regular Starbucks rotation, they were only around for two months per year. Then they quit making them all together and I HAD to figure out how to recreate that wonderfully sweet and puckeringly tart flavor! It took me forever, but here it is! It's a blend of two different recipes I found on Pinterest. For full credit see my original post at http://www.thehungrydater.com/best-ever-lemon-shortbread-tart/ —Molly

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Crust
  • 1 cup All Purpose Flour (I use Cup4Cup because I'm gluten free and it works great)
  • 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon Salt
  • 1/2 cup Butter
  • Lemon Curd
  • 3 Large Eggs
  • 3/4 cup Granulated Sugar
  • 3 Juice of 3 Lemons
  • 4 tablespoons Butter
  • 1 tablespoon Lemon Zest
Directions
  1. Crust
  2. Lightly spray or butter a tart pan.
  3. Preheat the oven to 400.
  4. Put all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the butter is chopped into what looks like corn meal.
  5. Pour ingredients into the tart pan; press it into the pan so it is dense and evenly distributed.
  6. Place in freezer for 15 minutes.
  7. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
  1. Lemon Curd
  2. Reduce heat in oven to 350.
  3. Whisk together Eggs, Juice, and Sugar.
  4. Place mixture over low heat. (Most people do this in a double boiler, I use Belgique pans.)
  5. Whisk constantly and slowly turn up heat. Be careful not to curdle or overcook the eggs, but continue whisking until the consistency is thick.
  6. Once the consistency is right, add the butter and stir in until melted.
  7. Pour lemon curd into the baked crust and settle it so it's level and even.
  8. Put whole tart back in oven and bake for between 10-20 minutes or until the curd stiffens.
  9. Remove from Oven and cool on rack; Place in refrigerator for at least one hour.
  10. Serve.
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1 Review

sarahhallam
sarahhallam June 4, 2020
I'm very judgy when it comes to lemon desserts: they need to be punchy, not sickly sweet, but still delightfully dessert-ish. They need to be silky smooth, no curdled egg or other weird textures distracting from the bright lemon flavor you're looking for. THIS TART IS THE ONE THAT DOES IT ALL! I found it helpful to look at the blogpost the author originally shared this recipe on (link in recipe intro) and there followed the links to the original crust and filling recipes for extra process tips. Bonus= The filling has an easy 1 egg : 1/4 cup sugar : 1 lemon : ~1 tablespoon of butter ratio, which makes it super easy to make extra filling/ lemon curd, which is DEFINITELY a good idea.